Calluna Events combines unique, creative and fresh ideas with amazing organizational skills and an exceptional attention to detail to create your perfect wedding or event. We’ve established an extensive network of venues and professional vendors to fit every style and budget. We offer innovative full service planning, wedding day coordination & hourly consulting.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

With the end of the year drawing to a close I am in that mode of wrapping up projects and updating materials. I'm trying my best to keep my blog updated as well as my website. I have just finished a round of updates to the site and more are on the way. Check out the following links:

Monday, December 1, 2008

Whether you are planning a wedding for 50 or 500 creating a wedding that your enjoy guests is a gift that honors all who attend. So where do you begin? And how do you do it without unnecessary stress? Hiring a wedding planner, either for full service planning, day of coordination or somewhere in-between, is one of the smartest things you can do to help create a memorable, unique and stress-free wedding.

Once you’ve selected a date for your wedding, prepare a timeline and work backwards to make sure you get everything done on schedule. A wedding planner can help you develop and stay on track with this timeline. Your venue should be your first priority and can be the most challenging. Desirable venues are in high demand and each has specific contract requirements that you will need to negotiate, as well as rules to follow in terms of outside vendor choices. Your wedding planner can present you with venues that fit your budget and needs and then help you compare the costs, pros and cons of each venue.

Photographers and musicians for your reception get booked quickly so these should be your next focus. When looking for a photographer keep in mind that you will have the images they take for your lifetime; Wedding photography is an investment. You should also really jive with your photographer. You are going to be spending a lot of time with them, during intimate and emotional moments and you should feel comfortable with them by your side. If live music is a must get booking fast! Good bands are in high demand. Your wedding planner will be able to create a list of photographers and musicians that are the right fit for you and your fiancé.

Eco-friendly events are on the rise. Extend the lifetime of your wedding and the planet by using recyclable invitations, caterers who prefer organic ingredients or support local farms, and donating your flowers and decorations to a local nursing home after your wedding. Wedding planners are in tune with the local vendors who are committed to helping you create an eco-friendly wedding.

Try to incorporate elements of your heritage, religion, or create a theme around the two of you as a couple. At Calluna Events we love to work with our clients’ to help them incorporate their style and personality into their wedding. In addition to your personal imprint and that you enjoy the day as well. With a bit of intention, you can stay true to yourself and have fun at the same time! And we can help you!

Heather Dwight is the owner of Calluna Events, LLC. The team at Calluna Events brings exceptional attention to detail, amazing organizational skills, a comprehensive network of vendors, creative ideas and a fresh perspective to any wedding or event!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Last week was a super fun and productive one in the world of event planning. Here are the highlights:

1. I got to meet with my favorite make up artist Jessica Shinyeda from The Face Lab at my favorite Boulder restaurant, The Kitchen, for breakfast.

2. I met with two photographers...one new up and coming photographer Chad Morgan Photography and one very experienced photographer who recently moved to the Denver area, Otto Schulze Photographers. We are looking forward to working with both photographers in 2009.

3. I finally met with Erin Wochos from Plum Sage Flowers out of the Highlands neighborhood in Denver. I have been hearing about Erin for some time now through other wedding vendors and we are actually going to be working together on a clients wedding in May.

4. I attended a cake tasting with Kim Boos, owner of Haute Cakes & Tee & Cakes with my clients', Nicole & Dan. They are getting married at the St. Julien Hotel & Spa in Boulder in May and Erin from Plum Sage will be doing their flowers! What a small world.

Friday, November 21, 2008

We loved working with Anna and her mother to create her wedding at Beano's Cabin this past summer on August 30th. Anna's decor really came together and she was able to weave bits and pieces of it throughout the day in the flowers, the cake and the one of a kind centerpieces.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Today I am working at The Envelope Please in Boulder. When I first started Calluna Events I worked at the store part time to learn more about the wedding industry, paper and also it helped pay the bills when I was getting started! Now I work here when they need the extra help or I represent the shop at wedding shows.

The Envelope Please is a full service stationery store that specializes in all things pretty for your wedding, event or party. The newly remodeled store is comfortable, inviting and a great place to design your next invitation.

I recently chatted with owners Amy Baxter & Nancy Travis to find out what is new and exciting in the world of wedding stationery.

Trends: eco-friendly papers and invites, trying to buy local, hand written calligraphy is very popular this year, Envelopements, creative, unique and differentdesigns that reflect the couples' personality.

When should you start the process for wedding invitations:: 4 months prior.
Save the dates:: 6-8 months prior

They also sell the very popular Envelopements line where you can mix and match to create your very own invitation or save the date. Pick your own colors and design and The Envelope Please will help you create, design and print. They even assemble too!

Friday, October 31, 2008

For the past five years as a wedding planner in Colorado I have had the pleasure and honor of working with some of best and premier wedding vendors. So when it was my turn to get married this September I struggled with who use. We are so lucky here...there are many, many incredible options for brides. With so many choices how do you choose?

At Calluna Events we help YOU, our clients, with these decisions. By talking with you about your style, budget and priorities we help you select the vendors that best represent your needs. First we talk with you about you and your fiance's style and help to create an event that reflects you as a couple. We love to help imprint your signature into your wedding day and weekend. From your vows, favors, food, music and decor we help you tie in little pieces to make your wedding completely unique and special. Second we talk with you about your budget and your priorities. What do you have to spend, where is it coming from and what are your priorities. For example, if you really want a band we might want to move a little money in the budget around to accommodate live music. Are you foodies and like great wine but don't really care about flowers? More money for food, less for flowers and decor. Are amazing, photojournalistic photos a must?! Taking all of these considerations in mind we put together a custom list of vendors we feel match your style, budget and priorities.

For my wedding in September, my husband and I had a modest budget to work with. The venue and setting was very important to us. Ensuring that our guests had a good time and were comfortable was a necessity. We also wanted it to really reflect us and our personalities. Great food that was presented well, a full bar and pairing wines with our food were all priorities. Amazing photos that last a lifetime were a must! Live music, favors, and a large wedding were not so important.

All of the photographs below are from our amazingly talented photographer Regina Mountjoy from Recherche Photography. We LOVE our photos! Regina did an amazing job of capturing the love that was all around us!

Barry Jones from Design Works created floating candle installations in the pond, put up festival lighting to creating a warm glow and lined paths with luminaria.

Our menu was created by us with Catering by Design. It featured four courses (salad, pasta, fish and beef) paired with wines. Our menus, programs, table name cards and other printed materials were designed and printed by The Envelope Please in Boulder.

Scott Beach, Colorado Bagpiper played at the end of our ceremony to honor my Scottish heritage.

It actually rained a little bit during our ceremony, and during dinner and dancing. We were prepared with umbrellas for all of our guests.

Along with Pellegrino's and water, we offered our guests orange & green virgin and vodka infused IZZE's as they arrived for our ceremony. We tied our colors in by serving them with orange & green straws. A Boulder company, IZZE is a great addition to any wedding or event.

Alli Bozeman of Bird Dog Press and Handmaiden helped us create our entire line of custom wedding stationery: from save the dates, to our invitations and escort cards.

The infamous Andy Mendoza style my hair and make me runway ready! Andy is fabulous at what he does...make you look beautiful!

My dear friend and owner of The Face Lab, Jessica Shinyeda did my make up. Jess is such an amazing presence to have around when you are getting ready. She is so calm and sweet. I love referring her to my brides for their big day.

Our banana cake with chocolate ganache and espresso buttercream came from Tee & Cakes/Haute Cakes. We custom designed the cake to match our colors and modern style. Kim Boos is such a joy to work with and I'm addicted to her creations!

Our guest book was custom designed by Alli and Bird Dog Press. It is a bound book made up of envelopes in various colors and sizes. Our guests could make a wish on a penny and throw it into the pond near the ceremony site and then write their wish down for us.

Our colors were orange and bright green and we wanted a simple, clean, monochromatic look with the flowers. European Flower Shop in Boulder help to create our vision with our flowers. We named our tables after places we had travelled together and featured photos and descriptions of our travels.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

We are back from Italy! What an amazing country. We had a fabulous time but now I'm back to reality and wedding planning!

In this months issue of Martha Stewart Weddings there is a wonderfully enlightening article on the benefits of having a wedding planner. I thought I'd share some excerpts from the article for your reading pleasure.

Meet the Planners by Lauren Lipton -Fall 2008 Martha Stewart Weddings

Counselor, coordinator, cohort - a wedding consultant plays MULTIPLE ROLES so you can CONCENTRATE on one: that of happy bride. But do you really need the extra help?

There was a time when wedding planners were an extravagance reserved for the mega-rich and famous, and most brides (along with their mothers) accepted the reality that they would have to shoulder every task themselves. These days, hiring a coordinator is, if not commonplace, increasingly popular. Why? Women are marrying later in life, often have jobs that don't leave them a lot of free time, and may well be trying to plan their event from hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Having a cool-headed, organized professional around to take on some of the burden is still a luxury, but many brides feel that the payoff - less time focused on the little details, more time focused on the big day - is priceless.

What will a good planner do for you? He or she will suggest vendors and negotiate with them for the best price and service; take care of the responsibilities you'd prefer not to tackle; be there the day of the event to make sure everything runs smoothly; and serve occasionally as an impromptu therapist when mounting wedding stress turns you into a crazed, tulle-obsessed mess. Many of the best planners even have backgrounds in areas such as catering or floral design and will work with you to come up with color schemes and decor elements to make your day as unique as you are.

Check out the rest of the article in the current issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

For those of you who don't know, I'm getting married this week! I wanted to say a big thank you to all my fabulous wedding vendors. Picking them wasn't easy...there are MANY exceptional vendors in Colorado and choosing just one was hard. However, I do feel like I am surrounded by the best and that I'm in amazing hands. If only I can just relax, be the bride and not the planner on Saturday.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Today, in addition to doing last minute preparations for my wedding in Vail tomorrow, I went to the most fabulous hair stylist, Andy Mendoza at Zumo Salon in Boulder for a hair cut AND color. I say AND color because this is the second time in my life I've ever colored my hair. There is no one in the world I would trust more with my hair than Andy. He is a hair genius!

For those of you who do not know, I am getting married in two weeks...two weeks from today to be exact! The wedding planner is planning her own wedding. The wedding planner is the bride...the wedding planner gets married. It's been so much fun... to plan my own wedding while at the same time helping my brides plan their own. The entire process has been relatively easy and seamless. But at the same time it feels like work and I haven't slowed down.

In the past few weeks I've been trying to take snippets of time...here and there... the reflect on what it feels like to be a bride...to honor that process and to take time for myself and my fiance Brandon. I have been trying to listen to the advice I give my brides all the time in the weeks leading up to their wedding:

Slow down, try to absorb everything around you, this is the only time in your life that you will feel this feeling...the feeling that you are about to get married and that the world is supporting you and your love. Slow down and take it all in. Look around and make sure to take it all in.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

When choosing the look of your reception, pick one element that will be the focal point and build from that. The flowers or colors for your centerpiece? Candles? Make sure the table linens or napkins compliment them, not fight it. Lighting? Adjust your colors so they simply glow (either softly or brilliantly).

Go organic with your flowers! Check out Organic Bouquet.
Or better yet! Buy locally. Work with your florist to buy flowers that are in season in your local area. You might have to be a bit flexible but you'll make less of a dent on the planet.

This past weekend. I had the incredible opportunity to help plan Anna &a Sam's wedding at Beano's Cabin in Beaver Creek. Anna has such an amazing sense of style and she imprinted it in everything from her centerpiece designs she created with a friend of the family who is a master gardener to her stationery to her lovely cake toppers. She found these adorable birds at Cotton Bird Designs.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

What an amazing photo! All I can say is that I'm so sad to not be working with Lida & Jonathan anymore! As far as clients go that Calluna Events works with, Lida & Jonathan were simply the best! Fun, laid-back, inspirational and completely in love it was so much fun to meet with them and help them plan their wedding. I will absolutely miss working with them! I joke with them that I'll have to pay them to hang out with me now.

Their wedding was filled with some of my absolute favorite vendors and then some that I had the first opportunity to work with such as Bob Ocken from Ocken Photography who took this amazing photo. Catering by Design (my absolute favorite caterer) provided meals for all three wedding events: their Henna on Friday, their BBQ on Saturday and their Sunday wedding. Their wedding was held at Lionscrest Manor in Lyons, Colorado. Kim Boos from Tee & Cakes in Boulder provided their amazing cake (photos to come!). Incredible wonders in decor for both the Henna and the wedding was designed and implemented by TDA Design in Denver and of course we worked with the best DJ in the Denver area, Pure Sounds Productions. Stay tuned for amazing photos!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Ok I had to blog about this! A few weekends ago I coordinated a wedding at beautiful Pastures of Plenty in Boulder. What an amazing venue (minus the mosquitoes!).

A new thing for weddings! Photo booths you can rent that take classic old time photos of your guests. This one was from Booth 66 and it prints out two copies (one for you and one for your guests) in either black and white or color.

My dear co-coordinator, Spice Jones and I had a fun with the booth as well as Juli Harris and Regina Mountjoy. Here are a few of our attempts at photo boothing it. "Hysterical, weird, awkward." as Regina puts it. We have no idea what Julie is doing in the top left corner? Or- actually what we are doing in any of them.

All three of us will all be together again for my wedding day in just one month!!!!

The Calluna Events blog has been in the works for months! Trying to get a blog up and going while planning weddings is another story! Needless to say, we are so excited!

It is our hope that our blog will be a resource for you and that we'll keep you coming back for more! Our plan is to feature tips for wedding planning, Colorado wedding trends, wedding venue and vendor spotlights, product features, color palettes, and all wedding things that we love.

We LOVE suggestions so if you have something you'd like to see, please let us know!